When a company is sued and its employees are on notice not to destroy potentially relevant material, it is not permissible to delete electronic evidence. A company whose employees were found to have done so now must face trial in the Eastern District of Virginia. The jury will be instructed that the defendant company deleted information, that the deleted information may have been helpful to the plaintiff, and that the fact of deletion can be considered in assessing the intent and knowledge of the company. The VLW Blog has a write-up; opinion here.